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Friday, September 26, 2014

Here it is. I put this on my little one today and it was a little shorter than I expected but it did still fit.

I really am not wild about how stiff the acrylic yarn is but I'm glad I used some of my massive stash. I'm hoping that it might not be so stiff after a little bit of wash and wear.

She did look pretty cute in it although when I picked my kids up after nursing school today she had spit up all over it and it wasn't on her so I never snapped a photo. I'll be adding a photo to the Ravelry project page once I do laundry tomorrow.

I think I need to do something more with Hello Kitty's face to make it a little more recognizable. We'll see if I have time for that...

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The fun thing about having a girl now is being able to make things with Hello Kitty on them.

Exhibit A:

Who doesn't love Hello Kitty? When we went to the Mall of America when we were little, my sister and I never forgot to drag our mom to the Sanrio store so we could look at all the cute plastered all over the walls.

I knit the Hello Kitty appliqué on a whim so I'm hoping it will look recognizable with finishing touches.

Monday, September 15, 2014

What is YRM: I honestly believe there are good things and bad things about every type of yarn, no matter how much you save or how much you break the bank. This is for the lay-knitter, not professionals. This is for people like me who might not necessarily be fiber experts despite being a crocheter or knitter for a long time, but need an honest opinion about yarn before they dive into a project with it.

The yarn: James C. Brett Marble Chunky

100% acrylic

300 grams, 7.05 ounces; 341 yards, 314 meters

Colorway: 40MC

The project: Hoot Cardigan - free on Ravelry.

What I liked:It was perfect for the project, a gender neutral sweater for my cousin's little one since we don't know what she's having. I didn't find out what I was having for two of my little ones, and some gender neutral clothing out there really is not gender neutral. Seeing how this knit up, I can honestly say I would put this on a girl or boy without any hesitation. It is fun to see how the color variations knit up. The skein is huge and the price is right. The metallic element really adds a lot to a project too.What I didn't like: It's splitty when you work with it since it's a metallic yarn and a completely separate jewel toned yarn twisted together (in less words, it's plied). It creates a great look but cabling with it is a pain. So is trying to put the needles back on that your toddler takes out of your project. Grr. Also, I encountered three knots just working the body of the sweater and one sleeve. What the... I just hate, hate, hate knots in my yarn. Kind of makes me want to jump off a tall building.Affordability: I bought mine at Mrs. I's Yarn Parlor for only $15-16.Rating: The knots... I mean really. Exasperating. However I love the yarn itself. Despite the fact that it's 100% acrylic, it is so much fun to knit with and the colors are vivid. I love the metallic. But due to the knots issue, I'm giving it a lower rating.

For a complete list of Yarn Reviews, click below:

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this or asked to review this yarn by any store or the company itself. Opinions are my own.

Friday, September 12, 2014

As soon as I shared my post on Wednesday, I received some buttons in the mail and promptly finished my cousin's baby shower gift.
(I originally saw the Hoot Cardigan shared over at Stitched Up in Toronto and I loved it so much I made three of them in a couple short months.)

Behold the cuteness:

I sewed seed beads on each owl for the eyes since the cabling gets a little lost in the dark yarn and the subtle striping.

Baby's sex is going to be a surprise. As I was working on this I kept trying to imagine putting it on one of my boys, and on my little girl, and I know I would make my kids wear this no matter what they were. It is probably the first gender neutral garment I've ever made or seen that is actually gender neutral.

I have at least or more than half a skein left. I might have to get another one on the needles for one of my boys...

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I've come to the realization that having a good LYS is like (what I imagine) having a good drug dealer is like. Bear with me here...

I have a yarn shop that I really like to go to (don't we all?) but can't often due to distance from home. I really cannot justify driving 45 minutes to spend less than $20 on knitting supplies. It's not cost effective for gas or my bank account. But bless her heart, the owner of this shop is friends with me on G+ and I even have her cell number since her store is in her home now.
Last week I sent her a photo of some buttons I need to finish off this project:

This actually has three buttons on it now

So when my husband suggested going to an air show with the kids over the weekend in the town this yarn shop is in, I was like, hell yes, I can buy the last two buttons!

In my excitement I called the yarn shop owner, asked if she would be available for me to stop by, and then fell asleep and slept through the air show since I worked over the weekend. Oops.

But every time I've called to make sure she would be available, she always is. I imagine a good drug dealer must be the same way, available at any time, ready to hook you up with whatever you need. In this case, though, it is a fiber addiction. Right? Does anyone else ever think about this?

Anyway, enough rambling. Here are my current projects:

Finished the sleeves!

I began the mice on Sunday. I can't decide if I should make them nativity mice or carolers. The set will be donated to the church Christmas sale. Thoughts?

And oddly enough given the title of my post today, I began reading Confessions of an English Opium-Eater on Saturday night. It has been in my Google books library for a while now. An episode of Sherlock Holmes I recently watched renewed my interest in reading it.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

It's been raining for a week now. Normally that means excellent knitting weather, right? Nope. It's been on and off but the mosquitoes have been swarming us when we try to go outside during breaks in the rain so I gave up on trying to get the kids outside. As a result, they've been nuts cooped up indoors which means I've just been working on homework when the kids have allowed for the occasional sanity break.

I did work on the hoot cardigan for my cousin's little one on Sunday. I just love how the yarn looks you guys. It's beautiful. I'm so glad the skein is so big so I can use it for other things.